Friday, August 31, 2007

Elizabeth Edwards: Backyard Campaigning in NH

This is Elizabeth Edwards in action yesterday in NH. She was in someone's backyard, to a crowd of 100. Elizabeth is wearing another red jacket of courage, explaining her spouse's views on just about every topic on the planet.

A woman asked the third question, which was on the economy, global warming, consumerism, the trade deficit, and graduate science education. Yes, all in one very lengthy question. I did take a boatload of notes on this and can come back to it in more detail if people want. She talked about reducing emissions by 80% by 2050 and said that was totally doable. She did give props to Bill Richardson by pointing out that John is not the most aggressive candidate on the issue because Governor Richardson is looking for the 80% by 2040. She went into wonky beyond belief detail about permitting for carbon emissions. She talked about how we’re never going to get socks back as an industry and went on to say that the goal is to create an industry dealing with global warming that can be exported elsewhere. This morphed a bit into funding for both this and science education. Then she spoke of when she was young and how NASA excited everyone about science. A few jabs at the current occupant of the oval office later and she was on to how the right leader can create excitement by talking about the magic and wonder of science and engineering.

In addition to answering complex questions, several parents brought their children. Elizabeth was was never frazzled about it. Sobermom noted Elizabeth's patience and experience, which shined through:

Before Elizabeth started she stopped the mothers with toddlers from trying to move back out of the way behind everyone. "You don’t have to move back with babies at any event of mine. I know what it’s like to have young ones. I never would have seen a movie or attended a political event if I was trying to keep babies quiet."

This is the kind of parent I want in the White House. What about you, BW readers?